High-throughput synthesis and assembly of DNA constructs is an integral part of synthetic biology and the bio-engineering cycle which aims to revolutionize how molecular and biological products are de veloped and manufactured. A number of methods for the assembly of synthetic DNA oligonucleotides into longer constructs have been developed over the past several years. Many methods utilize a combination of polymerase or ligase enzymes to join shorter oligonucleotides (e.g., molecules that are 50 to 200 nucleotides in length) to form constructs that are as long as 1,000 to 5,000 base-pairs. These methods are sufficient for the construction of whole genes coding for functional proteins.
any high throughput methods are performed in micro-titer platesusing automated robotic systems. While these systems reduce the cost of labor, the reagent costs, including the starting oligonucleotides, are still considerable given the number and the volume of the various reactions required for the assembly.